God’s Presence In The Enemy’s Presence
The Old Testament portion of my Bible reading had me in Jeremiah today. As I began chapter 33, I was already anticipating the very familiar verse 3…
“Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.“
But this morning, my attention was drawn to verse 1…
“Moreover the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah the second time, while he was yet shut up in the court of the prison, saying”
The very precious, often-quoted promise in verse 3 came to Jeremiah while he was shut up in prison. I’ve enjoyed thinking about that this morning!! Those who put Jeremiah in prison were unknowingly setting Jeremiah up to receive an abundance of grace and comfort from God! I love what Matthew Henry says about this verse:
“No confinement can deprive God’s people of his presence; no locks nor bars can shut out his gracious visits; nay, oftentimes as their afflictions abound their consolations much more abound, and they have the most reviving communications of his favour when the world frowns upon them. Paul’s sweetest epistles were those that bore date out of a prison.” ~ Matthew Henry
Praise the Lord – what a faithful God we serve! He will never, ever leave us and when our enemies’ intentions are to do us harm – to discourage, derail, defame and defeat us – GOD steps in and makes His presence known to us in a very real way! As the Psalmist says, He sets a table before us and before we know it (much to the enemy’s chagrin), our cup is running over!
“Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.” Psalm 23:5
Remember the three Hebrew young men in Daniel, chapter 3. As they were cast into the fiery furnace, GOD showed up and instead of being destroyed, the young men were seen walking with the Lord in the midst of the fire!
“Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonied, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellers, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king.
He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.” Daniel 3:24,25
My friend, are you feeling the heat of opposition this morning? Cleave to the Lord! Bury yourself in His Word! Allow Him to make His presence real to you in a very special way!
“When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.” Isaiah 43:2
“No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.” Isaiah 54:17